Nothing to hide

Fans of ID cards often say, if you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. They are naïve.

There are lots of good reasons you might want to hide. You may be a woman seeking safety from a former partner [1]. You might be fleeing more general family or community persecution [2]. You might be a political refugee from an overseas government. You might be a witness to crime [3]. You might be someone who has been forced to work for criminals. You might be a former criminal attempting to leave a gang.

The ID scheme will make this much much harder — perhaps impossible, if you do not have money and help. All such people are potentially in danger. As are undercover journalists and police officers who are pretending to be someone else in the public interest.

The Home Office makes much of the idea that biometrics — fingerprints and facial images — stored on the ID card system will “lock” individuals to a single identity. The government is enthusiastic about checking people against databases of education and employment history or police (not necessarily criminal) records, in the name of security.

It does not appear to care much that for many people privacy is security.

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1) There are more than 400 organisations in England alone providing women’s refuge services. There are generally 800-900 homicides a year in Britain, three quarters of the women and half of the men being killed by someone known to them: http://www.parliament.uk/COMMONS/lib/research/rp99/rp99-056.pdf

2) Recent controversy has focussed on ‘honour crime’ and forced marriages, but personal vendettas also spring from other reasons.

3) There are hundreds of so-called ‘protected witnesses’ for whom either a continuous personal file or one that suddenly starts mid-life would pose a problem.

Please note: NO2ID is campaigning to stop the future being like this, but if you find yourself in the situation Take Jane describes and need help NOW then please contact Women’s Aid. Women’s Aid does not endorse NO2ID.

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